William Thynne (died 10 August 1546) was an English courtier and editor of Geoffrey Chaucer's works.

Life

Thynne's family bore the alternative surname of Botfield or Boteville, and he is sometimes called "Thynne ''alias'' Boteville". In 1524 he was second clerk of the kitchen in the household of Henry VIII, and by 1526 he had become chief clerk of the kitchen, with full control of royal banquets. The office was connected with the board of green cloth, and its holder enjoyed an official lodging at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. The king showed Thynne favour, in grants. On 20 August 1528 he became bailiff of the town and keeper of the park of

Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the Riv ...

. On 21 July 1529 he was appointed customer of wools, hides, and fleeces in the port of London, and on 8 October 1529 receiver-general of the earldom of March and keeper of Gateley Park, Wigmoresland. In 1531 Thynne obtained from the prior and convent of Christchurch, near

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

in London, a lease of the rectorial tithe of Erith in Kent, and in a house there he passed much of his life. In 1533, Thynne became one of the cofferers of Queen

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, and on 27 March 1533 the king made him a gift of oak-trees. In a document dated 16 April 1536 Thynne was described as clerk comptroller of the royal household, and a reference was made to him in 1542 as "clerk of the Green Cloth". He died on 10 August 1546, and was buried in the church of All Hallows Barking, with a brass to his memory.

Works

Thynne studied the works of Chaucer, collecting manuscripts of the poems. He published at the press of Thomas Godfray the first major collected edition in a two-columned

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

, dedicated in Thynne's name to Henry VIII (according to John Leland, the preface was by Sir Bryan Tuke, a colleague of Thynne at the board of green cloth). The title was ''The workes of Geffray Chaucer newly printed, with dyvers workes which were never in print before''. He included spurious works, but he printed an improved text of the ''

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus ...

'', and he included some works for the first time.Chaucer's ''Legende'', ''

Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Abe ...

'', '' The Deth of Blaunche'', ''Pity'', ''

A Treatise on the Astrolabe ''A Treatise on the Astrolabe'' is a medieval instruction manual on the astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer. It describes both the form and the proper use of the instrument, and stands out as a prose technical work from a writer better known for poet ...

'', and ''Stedfastness''. A second edition of Thynne's collective edition of Chaucer's works was printed by W. Bonham in 1542, and to it Thynne added the spurious work '' The Plowman's Tale'' (anti-Catholic and probably a contemporary text). It was excluded from Thynne's edition of 1532, but had been printed separately by Godfray before 1535. A poem ''

The Pilgrim's Tale ''The Pilgrim's Tale'' is an English anti-monastic poem. It was probably written ca. 1536–38, since it makes references to events in 1534 and 1536 – e.g. the Lincolnshire Rebellion – and borrows from The Plowman's Tale and the 1532 text b ...

'' in a volume of miscellaneous verse ''The Courte of Venus'' published between 1536 and 1540, and which was assigned by

John Bale John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...

to Chaucer, may have no connection to Thynne. In 1561 John Stow brought out a revised version of Thynne's edition of Chaucer.

Thomas Speght Thomas Speght (died 1621) was an English schoolmaster and editor of Geoffrey Chaucer. Life He was from a Yorkshire family, and matriculated as a sizar of Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1566, graduating B.A. in 1570, and M.A. in 1573. At Cambridge he w ...

originated another edition (1598).

Will and family

Thynne's will, dated 16 November 1540, was proved on 7 September 1546. His wife Anne, daughter of William Bond, clerk of the green cloth, was sole executrix and chief legatee. The overseers were Sir Edmund Peckham, cofferer of the king's household, and the testator's nephew, Sir John Thynne. Anne then married Sir Edward Broughton, and Hugh Cartwright. She died intestate before 1572. Their son

Francis Thynne Francis Thynne (c. 1544 – 1608) was an English antiquary and an officer of arms at the College of Arms. Family background and early life Francis Thynne was born in Kent, the son of William Thynne, who was Master of the Household of King H ...

was a herald. He criticised Speght's work, and defended his father (letter first printed in

Henry John Todd Henry John Todd (1763–1845) was an English Anglican cleric, librarian, and scholar, known as an editor of John Milton. He was librarian at Lambeth Palace (1803), and examined and described manuscripts, chiefly biblical, which formerly belonge ...

's ''Illustrations of Chaucer'' of 1810.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Thynne, William Year of birth missing 1546 deaths English book editors

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...